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The New York Times Travel Show Review

On the Go Mag correspondent Sarah John Afana braved the pre-Snowmaggedon last Saturday to hit The New York Times Travel Show at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City. More than 500 exhibitors from around the world set up booths, presenting almost every facet of the travel world, from Orlando to Thailand, from Sri Lanka to the Islands of the Bahamas. More than 20 thousand attendees visited the show floor and met with more than 150 industry experts, including CBS News Travel Editor Peter Greenberg, Travel Photographer Ralph Velasco, and even Paradise Found’s Ashley Colburn! And with more than 100 cultural presentations, The New York Times Travel Show brought the world to New York City.

Overview of The New York Times Travel Show

On the World’s Stages

The travel show embraced culture with five stages, where it showcased the world’s gifts. The stages—named for each part of the globe—present 15-minute celebrations that highlight a certain part of the world’s culture. Some presentations included River Cruises, Japanese Festival Culture, Tourism Turkey, Malaysia Truly Asia, and more. Also on these stages were mini-seminars, including Top 10 Ways to Find the Best Travel Values (You really only need one way—contact your local travel agent!) and The Traveling Professor: Top Ten Ways to Save on Europe (did we mention travel agents yet?).

Enlightening Seminars

Some of the highlights of The New York Times Travel Show are the seminars, which are generally hour-long presentation about the state of the industry and about certain aspects of travel. Sarah sat in two seminars: Fodor’s Go Travel List 2015 and The Top New Travel Destinations (with Arthur and Pauline Frommer).

The Top New Travel Destinations (with Arthur and Pauline Frommer) included:

– Belize—a family friendly destination, similar to Costa Rica, with additional cultural attractions and Mayan ruins with cave swimming. (Dad can feel like Indiana Jones when exploring!)

– Belgium—“The Birth of an Artist” exhibit at Museum of Fine Arts (Mon), a celebration of Vincent Van Gogh (Events throughout Europe will commentate the 125th anniversary of Vincent Van Gogh’s death.)

Learn from Travel Masters at The New York Times Travel Show (pictured: Frommer’s Top New Travel Destinations)

Note: According to Frommers, Europe will be affordable this year due to the Euro exchange.

– South Dakota-The 100th anniversary of Mount Rushmore will be in 2016, so beat the rush to the monument. Also, this year–buffalo roundup 50th anniversary and 75th anniversary for Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, including more than one million bikes

– Tanzania—Selous Game Reserve is one of the most endangered areas on Earth with elephant and rhinoceros populations plummeting. “Get there now,” said the Frommers.

– Asheville, North Carolina—hipper than Brooklyn, artsy, foodie, Smokey Mountains, great B&B’s in area

– Chaco National Historic Park-1,200 year old ruins that until 1880s, were the biggest buildings in North America; recently allowed fracking will cause ruins to collapse (so another go-see-now site)